


Sins of the Father

by TheCuddleMonster



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: F/F, Father-Daughter Relationship, based on some of the concept art from the game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25560673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCuddleMonster/pseuds/TheCuddleMonster
Summary: She fixes him with a glare full to the brim with vitriol she seems to have in endless reserve just for him. He did this to her, he knows. He took a sweet, hopeful girl and whittle her down to a point. She is a knife and he is a whetstone. His heart falls through, he can almost hear the sound it makes when it hits the floor. What if she never smiles at him again? His jaw hurts like it did when his mother scolded him as a boy. He can't bear to look into her seething eyes a second longer.
Relationships: Dina & Ellie (The Last of Us), Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Ellie & Joel (The Last of Us)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	Sins of the Father

The glowing, yellow lights strung up from the rafters of the church make the room feel warm. It is warm, humid even in spite of winter's relentless attempts to chill the sleepy town's residents to the bone. He doesn't particularly have a taste for these things. The music is good wafting around the room. He sees a few people he likes. Greets them. He has a drink with Tommy, they shoot the shit for a minute until Maria is able to untangle herself from her adoring public. Then he gets sucked up into her orbit. He's happy for them. She makes his brother a better man. Maria places a tender hand on his bicep. 

She knows as well as he does even if he others don't. He really he came to see her.

Maria was the one who had mentioned to him that she was coming. He hasn't the slightest how she finds out about these things. She knew, somehow and she told him so he came. 

She'd been right of course. She always is-poor Tommy. 

She had walked in about an hour after him. Straight to the bar. She's been leaning against the bar counter nursing a tumbler of whiskey, she had good taste. 

He watches her, the way her eyes scan the crowd. They'd lost the round, wide innocence of childhood. Like this, when she doesn't know she's being watched he can see the reflection of the girl she was. Softer. She's grown into such a beautiful woman but he misses the sweet awkward slopes of her face when she wasn't quite grown.

He can't tell who she's looking for among all the faces, but she must have found them gauging by the almost giddy smile playing on her lips. Maybe she's meeting someone here. Is she seeing someone? She lives in a town of fewer than 500 people in the garage in his back yard and she still manages to have a life he knows nothing about. It makes him sad. Maybe he could ask around surely the hens in town know something. She isn't subtle. He immediately feels guilty at the thought. Would he really resort to spying on her? 

He debates going up to her. Just asking how she is. What's going on with her. Maybe it would be easier in a room full of people. With a bit of whiskey swimming through her veins to dilute everything else.

Her friend walks up to her just as someone draws his attention away. 

"Hey." A woman's voice interrupts him. 

"Howdy," he hesitates. He doesn't like new faces. 

"I'm new in town. Just trying to get to know people." She laughs nervously. 

"Welcome." He offers with some finality. 

She doesn't leave. She sits down in the booth across from him. He looks back over at Ellie. 

"It seems like a nice place here. Good people." She says. 

"Sure. You'll like it here." He agrees. He can vaguely hear her friend's voice carry over the crowd as she leads Ellie to the dance floor.

"Is that your daughter?" She asks. He turns around to look at her, eyes on Ellie. A warning slithers down his spine. 

"People around here do love to gossip." He accuses sharply, "I don't care for it."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to pry." She tries to smile. "There's just something special between a girl and her father, don't you think?" 

"Yeah." He reminds himself that Jackson is safe. That's why he came here. So he softens, "You got family with you?" 

She clenches her jaw. "No."

Must be a recent loss. "Sorry to hear it."

She smiles, thin. "Thank you." 

It doesn't seem like she is planning to leave so he decides she can help him. 

"You wanna dance?" She quirks a brow at him. He feels a bit embarrassed knowing he's caught. He adds, "This is a great song to have a first dance to." 

She takes his outstretched hand and he leads her into the crowd, not too close to them. 

He holds the woman at arm's length for a moment. "Now, I am a southern gentleman by birth. I should know a lady's name before I hold her close." 

"Abby." She says. 

"Joel." 

He pulls her in gently and sways with her but keeps Ellie in his view. She hasn't seen him, he thinks. It doesn't seem like she's taken her eyes off of her friend. They orbit around each other like-

He blinks. Seeing Ellie, a part of her, for the first time. 

The girl, Dina, surprises them both when she presses her lips against Ellie's. 

A first kiss. 

Is it Ellie's first? With a girl? Ever? 

Ellie responds and he has to look away. He's not meant to see this. If she wanted him to know she would have told him. He looks at Abby who's watching him with unreadable eyes. He tries to smile. So does she. 

Then, a loud voice cuts through the entire church, "Oh, just what this town needs another loud-mouthed dyke!" 

His eyes snap back up. He finds Seth where Ellie had just been. He leaves Abby forgotten and crosses the room in a few steps. 

"Hey!" His hands make contact with the old man's chest and knocks him back with a hard shove. "Get the hell out of here." 

He stumbles back and Joel steps further between him and Ellie.

"Get your hands off me." 

He takes a threatening step closer and the coward steps back. Of course, he has all the courage in the world to attack his little girl but won't face him. 

"Hey!" Maria steps between them. "Enough." she presses her hand against his chest in warning.

She turns to Seth and Joel watches her and Tommy pull him away. He doesn't care to listen to the scolding. 

He turns to catch Ellie's eye. To soothe her. She's so sensitive. He knows how deeply things can cut her. She whips around before he can. 

"You alright, kiddo?" He calls after her. 

He has to take a step back when she rounds on him "what the hell is wrong with you?" 

It feels like the glow of the room darkens. The world narrows to the space just around them. 

He hesitates, "He had no right-"

"And you do?" Her voice is deep her eyes full of anger. She's almost shaking with it. 

He gapes and she lunges, always for the neck, her word impregnated with venom, "I don't need your fucking help, Joel." 

She fixes him with a glare full to the brim with vitriol she seems to have in endless reserve just for him. He did this to her, he knows. He took a sweet, hopeful girl and whittle her down to a point. She is a knife and he is a whetstone. His heart falls through, he can almost hear the sound it makes when it hits the floor. What if she never smiles at him again? His jaw hurts like it did when his mother scolded him as a boy. He can't bear to look into her seething eyes a second longer. He breaks away and suddenly the world is full again he finds the church full of people, way too many people, all looking at him with pity. 

"Right." He swallows his misery, steps back. Steps away. If she doesn't want him the least he can do is stop inserting himself into her life. He owes her that, at least. 

So he does the one thing that could have saved her all this grief. 

He leaves her.


End file.
